Nothing Much
by NotJustAnotherHuman
Summary: Don't you hate it when you ask someone how they're doing and they reply 'Nothing much.? Short views into the lives of the Konoha nin, Konohaverse but not cannon. Warning: graphic, lemon.
1. Healing

When Sasuke returned to the village, he was treated about as well as a traitor would.

He was placed in jail not a minute after he appeared at the gate. When he was examined by medical personnel, there was an ANBU guard at his door to keep him from running away. Said ANBU did nothing, however, to prevent unauthorized persons from coming in his room and spitting slurs in his face while they waited for the doctor to arrive. Seeing this, Tsunade decided to intervene and perform the examination herself to make sure everyone else behaved.

The harassment didn't stop in public spaces. The front door of the underground complex that he was being held at – which was supposed to be secret- was frequented by protesters and street artists with a fascination with dismemberment. The Hokage tower's mail room was filled with passionate pleas to have him publicly humiliated, or worse. And the media did nothing to dissuade the populace from their outbursts, instead focusing nearly 24/7 on every gruesome detail of his life.

And through it all Sasuke was quiet, doing as he was told without a word.

"Exclusive tonight on Konoha at 8! Traitor and international criminal Sasuke Uchiha to be released from jail. What can you do to protect yourself!" the TV announcer chirped, her flawlessly sculpted face scrunching in disapproval. "Now we go to Kaoru live in front of the Hokage tower, who has the latest for us."

"Thank you. The council held a meeting this afternoon to decide if Sasuke is fit to be released from captivity. After arguing for over 5 hours, and with several character witnesses including prominent Konoha citizens, they decided in a narrow 2-1 vote to allow him back into the population."

"How are the citizens responding?"

"The academy and schools have reported that a record number of students have been temporarily removed from school. People are also anxious to know where the Uchiha will be housed, and many expect real estate value in the area to drop dramatically."

"There has also been talk of favoritism and corruption in the Konoha government, especially with the Hokage who is close to both the traitor's former teammates. We have now an interview with someone who can bring more light to those accusations... Welcome Mr…"

The television shut off before the announcer could introduce him.

"Wha!? Why did you do-" one of the nurses said, getting up from her seat to yell at whoever had turned it off.

"Get back to work." Bit Sakura, unhappy with her coworkers for watching the program. She had made a point to avoid all television recently. She no longer held on to the crush she had had when she was younger, but that didn't mean she enjoyed watching her ex-teammate get dragged through coals on live TV day in and out.

As she walked back to her office to rake over a particularly complicated patient's file, she could see and hear people looking at her weird and whispering. She'd had almost no part in any of the proceedings regarding Sasuke, but that didn't stop rumors.

In her office, Naruto was splayed on her couch, drained. He was taking the whole thing much harder than anyone. He had always believed that the village would accept Sasuke back with open arms and they'd be a team again in no time. His enthusiasm and optimism were gone, and he spent most of his days in meetings and interrogations trying to advance his case. At the same time he had to dodge accusations of favoritism, and even a bribery case that had been fabricated by a particularly anxious mother afraid of having a 'ticking time bomb' close to her children.

"How'd it go?" Sakura asked, sitting down at her desk.

"Terrible. But we got what we wanted. So I guess its ok in the end. He's going to be under constant ANBU watch for a minimum of nine months, and we can't have him in the Uchiha compound. Too many rich, pretentious people live in that area and we'd go broke if we angered them. Fuck, this is not what I wanted" He said, raking his hand over his face.

"That's not that bad..." Sakura started.

"Oh, I almost forgot. He gets chakra cuffs. All day, every day. For half a year."

Sakura looked up, shocked. "Do they know the effects of that much long term draining? I mean it could cause irreversible-"

"They know, Tsunade-baba yelled at them that it was practically a human rights violation. But it was the only way to get him out of that tiny cell." Sakura could feel something hard in the pit of her stomach that was a mix of pity and nausea. "The only thing that shows up on TV or in the newspaper is more hate speech. Tsunade says the guards that are supposed to be protecting the Uchiha compound from angry rioters are 'frequently asleep on the job'. Imagine how much worse it's going to be when they know where he will be living. He's going to be defenseless."

Sakura had nothing to say.

"I can't even be around him. It would fall right into their favoritism allegations. Fuck, this isn't what I wanted at all."

She could only look at the ground, the ball in her stomach tightening. They sat in silence for ten minutes, before Naruto got up and somberly walked out the door.

Sakura tried to read the file again, but the knot in the stomach only tightened, threatening to send her running for the bathroom. She decided she need to do something active and went back to doing rounds.

It was four in the morning when she heard screaming down the hall. She had fallen asleep in her office after wandering the hospital until she could stand no longer. Someone banged violently on her door.

"We need you, he's unstable!"

Awake instantly, she ran out the door. "What's happening?!"

Tenten was outside her door, "Sasuke. Lots of bleeding. Critical condition." She said between pants as she pointed towards the ICU. Sakura bolted in that direction, realizing she forgot shoes as she skidded the corner on her socks. By the time she saw the swinging doors and saw Tsunade screaming at a cluster of ANBU while Kiba restrained a distraught Naruto, she had slipped completely into her meditative doctor state.

She strode through the doors, shoe-less and in yesterday's clothes, and immediately the prep-nurse slid an apron over her shoulders as another held out gloves. As someone cried out "CODE BLUE! CODE BLUE!" Sakura jumped onto the gurney, yelling for a transfusion as she started chest compressions.

An hour later, Sakura walked out, barely hanging on to consciousness despite the steady regiment of chakra enhancers a nurse had fed her during the procedure. Immediately Naruto jumped up and asked a dozen questions almost simultaneously. When she swayed on her feet, he stopped.

"He's stable." She said as she dragged a hand through her messy hair. "What happened?"

"The ANBU guarding his SECRET location was bribed. All sorts of media and several of the angriest people in town showed up and dragged him out into the street. Practically gutted him. It's all on the news, they filmed it all." Tsunade said, "I thought they were trustworthy too. There's maybe a dozen people that I can use to guard him now, and that's not enough for a constant watch. We can't even let him stay in a hospital room while he recovers, he'd have to be on the registry and that's open-access."

"He'll have to stay in the ICU for 24 hours at least, then we can consider moving him." Sakura said before slumping in a seat.

"Naruto, carry her home. I'll have Neji and Tenten set up watch tonight." She heard Tsunade say as the world slowly dimmed around her.

When she woke up, everything hurt. Chakra depletion was practically common now, but it never got comfortable. Rolling out of her bed because sitting up was entirely out of the question, she slumped into the kitchen and ate the first thing she saw. And then 3 more portions.

Half an hour later, she was showered and changed and walked back to the hospital.

Lee and Shikamaru were guarding the ICU now. It was weird seeing their extreme personalities erased by the events of the past few weeks, and instead they were both alert, professional and quiet. Instead of dramatic exclamations, Lee simply nodded at her when she approached the doors and returned to staring down the hall.

"It's so creepy out there." Ino said in greeting as Sakura walked towards Sasuke's heart monitor. "Never seen Lee so quiet before. I thought nothing could ever make him this serious." Ino inserted a syringe into the IV line before continuing. "Though this is certainly nothing any of us could have expected. Shika said he expected some backlash to his return, but never this much. It's so… vicious. Did you see the attack? They filmed it all, it's been running on the news all morning."

Sakura shook her head, she avoided all news these days.

"He didn't even fight back. They pulled him from his bed and tore him apart and he didn't even lift a finger. One news anchor said it was because he feels superior to them all, that simple civilians can't possibly hurt him. It sounds so wrong."

"Naruto said that he used to talk, in the beginning. But he stopped. He doesn't respond to anything anymore. They've broken him." Sakura said as she looked at his face sadly. She pushed his arm from his chest slightly, removing the bandages to look at the lacerations below.

For the next two days, Sasuke was kept in an isolated wing of the ICU under constant guard from loyal ANBU, primarily ones he had grown up with.

"They're grasping at straws on TV. Everyone saw how violent people were, and how he didn't fight back. They were too greedy for ratings, making that video run nonstop. People are finally realizing what they were doing." Naruto said, lounging on Sakura's couch. "How's the recovery going?"

"He responds occasionally. He was awake for half an hour yesterday. But you can tell he doesn't have the will to live long. He's just present." Sakura said sadly as she wrote something at her desk. "We need the ICU vacated soon too, there's already too much strain on the other wing."

Naruto sat up quickly, disappearing out the door. A couple minutes later, he came back, arguing with Ino as he shoved the door open.

"What are you... He can't be moved yet!" Sakura said as she watched Naruto wheel Sasuke into the room on a wheelchair, Ino trailing behind with his IV.

"That's what I told him, but he just started moving him anyways." Ino complained,

"This office always makes me feel better! I thought it would be good for him too. Trust me!" Naruto said, parking Sasuke by the bay window in the back. He looked so proud of his idea, happy for probably the first time in months. Sakura didn't have the courage to send him back.

"Ino, can you get me his charts and painkillers, please?" Sakura said with a sigh.

"Yes! You'll see, he'll totally make a speedy recovery!" Naruto exclaimed, before turning to Sasuke to talk to him about something that involved a lot of exclamation points. It was then that Sakura noticed that he was actually awake. Staring out the window and completely ignoring Naruto's gesticulations, but awake.

With a small smile she sat back down to continue her report.

Later that day, a nurse came to drop off some files. She walked right in, accustomed to barging in. She froze, however, when she saw the Uchiha in the far corner.

"So that's where they've been hiding him." She announced, dropping the files on Sakura's desk. "You're not nearly the ticking time bomb they said you'd be. You're just a pathetic little man, hiding behind the protection of those much stronger than you. I can't even remember why we ever looked up to you!"

Sasuke had no reaction.

Sakura however, wasn't not pleased. She stood up from her seat violently, the chair clattering to the floor behind her.

"You came here to drop off your reports, not talk. Leave before I fire you." She hissed.

"Like you're any better. You loved him and he broke your heart. The whole village knows it. You're just keeping him here like a trophy, broken like you once were. You're enjoying this, and you can't wait to come to work every day just to see him like this. You probably go home and masturbate to his broken corpse." The girl said, crossing her arms with smug satisfaction.

There was no sound for several seconds, and Sasuke hesitated to even look up. When he did however, he saw Sakura with both fists on her desk, looking directly at the nurse.

"Leave now or you will never walk upright the rest of your miserable life." She hissed in the most vicious tone he had ever heard. The nurse bolted out of the room, her face pale as a snow. For a minute, Sakura held her position, practically shaking in anger. When finally she finally moved, Sasuke quickly looked back out the window.

He did however hear her angry muttering about 'fucking idiots, who know nothing and should go die violently in a snake pit'.

When Naruto came to visit them later, she didn't mention the incident. Naruto did however, say that the public perception towards him had changed. They no longer found him to be a threat, instead he was now a pathetic excuse for a ninja, and a shame on the entire Uchiha line. "Which is a complete lie", comforted Naruto, "cuz we all know you're a badass super ninja."

It's wasn't much, but at least they weren't at his throat anymore.

She was very glad now that she had fought for a large office.

With her live-in patient, Naruto showing up every day ("It's not favoritism, I'm just coming to say hello to Sakura like normal!") and the ANBU guard, it was starting to be cramped.

Sasuke had moved in two weeks ago, and was no longer wheelchair bound, instead sitting on the window seat and staring blankly at the world outside. When Naruto wasn't visiting and making as much noise as he could, Sakura and Sasuke said in comfortable silence, both respecting each other's need for quiet.

Once, Sasuke had collapsed on his way to the bathroom, the chakra cuffs and his recovery combining and exhausting him. He had woken up on the couch, indignant but still silent, glaring at Sakura and urging her to keep quiet about it.

She had simply smiled and nodded. That had been the first time she had seen him interact with anyone.

Progress was being made.

One day, she had brought him a book. She assumed that he was horribly bored, staring at the alley below her office all day. He hadn't touched it.

The next morning however, the book was in a new location. She smiled softly and started looking through her charts for the day.

Two days later, he openly read in front of her, and the day after that she found the book on her desk with a note on top.

_More_.

So during her lunch period, she went to a bookstore and bought a mostly random selection, having no idea what he actually liked. She guessed he wasn't much for romance, though. Inside one of the books she slipped her own note: _Tell me what you like and I'll get more_.

For another week, they communicated through succinct notes. Typically Sasuke's were no more elaborate than a '_This'_ slipped between the pages of a book.

As the week came to a close, Sakura was assigned a mission outside the city. She told him via note inserted into the top book of a particularly large stack. He looked at her when he read the note, and she saw something akin to fear flash in his eyes.

_It's only for 2 weeks. Naruto will be here_. She wrote, placing the note in front of him.

He didn't respond. She had never seen him write anything, the notes just appeared in the morning.

That day when Naruto came and told them of his exploits in training with Lee, Sasuke was back to staring out the window.

She day she arrived back in Konoha, she stopped by her office. The books were stacked neatly in two piles, one approved and one rejected. Sasuke was curled up on the couch, sound asleep.

Satisfied, she went home for the night.

The next morning, she walked into the office with a smile. Sasuke was back on the windowsill, looking out the alley. She handed him a note.

_Get dressed, you get to pick your own books now. _

He looked at her after reading it, hesitant. He knew people still didn't trust him. And he didn't want to face the outside world in case they attacked him again.

But she was insistent. Eventually she had him walking out of the office door, with his ANBU escort, to the book store around the corner. The other patrons of the small shop vacated the area once he entered, but the store owner did not seem bothered in the least.

He picked a couple books, and hesitantly brought them to the counter.

"Oh ho! That is one of my favorites. Take good care of it boy!" The owner said waving one of the books in the air as Sakura paid for the selection.

Once they got back to the office, he walked back to his window sill and immediately started reading the one the owner had praised.

When Sakura returned from her lunch break, extra portion in hand, she found a note on her desk that simply said _thank you_. She smiled and slipped it in her drawer for safe keeping.

From that point on they started taking more trips. Every couple days they went to the bookstore, and they now frequently ate lunch on the roof of the hospital. Once a week, Naruto would take him to the training fields and spar, but the chakra cuffs drained him quicker than he could bear and half the time he came back in a bad mood.

Lee offered his services to help him overcome the cuffs, but the council gave an order that specifically stated he could not be trained beyond a specific point. He was sullen for two days after that and refused to go to the roof to eat.

Time moved quickly. The populace had by now completely forgotten that he was ever an issue, and ignored him as much as he ignored them. He followed Naruto to the training fields, watching him train. He went out to eat several times a week with the rookie nine, and even went to the spring festival one night.

He did not, however, speak. The only mode of communication he had with any of them were the notes he passed Sakura. And only her.

Naruto was miffed when he learned about them, but it didn't discourage him for long. He still rattled on endlessly, and got his conversational cues from the various frowns Sasuke now exhibited.

Today was the day the chakra cuffs came off. The council had determined that he was not a threat, and he had been made to sign multiple contracts and agreements disclosing the various punishments for anything and everything they could dream of. They had also fought for a blood oath, but on account of his current muteness, it was removed from the table.

So now Tsunade and Ino stood in the office, as Sakura sat next to him on the windowsill. The first cuff came off, and he lurched forward, waves of charkra rocking back and forth through his body destroying muscle along the way. Sakura tried syphoning off as much as she could, while sending in her healing chakra to fix anything she could reach.

By the time the pain was tolerable, Sasuke was shaking and sweating through his shirt. Ino was standing next to Sakura, stabilizing her chakra as well.

Tsunade stepped forward to release the second cuff, when Sasuke turned and buried himself in Sakura's shoulder.

"No… no." He whispered hoarsely, into her chest. With a shaky hand, he wrote the characters for 'rest' into her leg.

"Wait a moment. I can't handle the second one quite yet." Said Sakura to her teacher as Sasuke pulled himself back towards the window. The coolness of the glass helped his overheated skin.

"Very well, I can come back in a couple hours. Is that ok?" Tsunade said.

Sakura looked at Sasuke for a second. Seeing a tiny tilt of his head forward and back, she responded with "I think I can handle that." Once Tsunade had left, she spoke again. "I'm going to get water. I'll get you some too."

"I'll come along to make sure you're fine." Ino added quickly, following her out the door.

Once they were at the vending machine down the hall, she spoke up again. "Was that his first word…"

"Yeah." Sakura said, leaning in exhaustion against the vending machine.

"Well, I guess its progress."

"I didn't want it to come because of pain."

Sakura returned to the office alone, with two water bottles and a cold compress. Sasuke had stopped shaking, but he was still dangerously hot. She hoped that the chakra would stop burning through his system by the time Tsunade returned.

The second cuff was no easier, but they were prepared for it. By the next morning he was used to the chakra fluctuations, and Naruto dragged a blushing Hinata into the room to help release the irritation on his chakra valves. The two left forty minutes later, Naruto promising to treat her to the best ramen ever in return for the favor.

Two days later, his hand started to overheat. He ignored it, hoping it would go away on its own. When it started sparking, he could no longer hide it.

"Saah.. Sakur-ah." He mumbled, holding his hand out. She looked up shocked, and held his gaze for a second before noticing the visible bursts of electricity coming from his palm.

"Fuck. Quick." She said, grapping his other hand and running out the door to the elevator. Pulling chakra from him as they ran to the elevator, she pressed her emergency pass into the scanner before slamming the roof button down. They went straight up, with only one of the ANBU making it to the elevator before the doors closed. Bursting out into the roof, she ran them around the corner and yelled "Grab the lighting rod!"

Releasing him, she discharged and impressive fireball with the excess chakra she had pulled from him.

The second ANBU arrived then, panicked and ready to fight, only to find Sakura bent over and panting and Sasuke gripping the lighting rod looking like a kid who had peed his pants.

After a visit from Tsunade, Sasuke was given mandatory daily training with Naruto so he could release the extra chakra he hadn't needed to control for the past several months. He was under orders to expel as much as possible until he either started producing less or learned to control it.

Sasuke spent much less time in the hospital now, so Sakura started having lunch out in the training yards with him and Naruto. Though the cuffs had been a nightmare, they had been such a drain on his system that without them he had a chakra production rate that rivaled Naruto's. The council was not pleased.

He took time to get back into the physical side of training though. Having been nearly stationary and eating almost nothing for more than six months hadn't benefited him at all. He was frequently angry at himself, and Naruto beat him every single spar.

He had gloated in the beginning, but now he was trying out positive reinforcement. Sasuke appeared not to be pleased by either.

He did enjoy lunch though. Sakura would come, and she would heal him as he ate. Naruto typically protested and claimed that she was playing favorites. Sasuke liked this.

"Saaaakuraaaaa! I'm hurt tooo! He's getting stronger and he can hit me now, LOOK!" Naurto said, waving an 'injured' arm in her direction.

"If you can move it like that, its fine." She muttered back, slowly dragging her hand over a cut on Sasuke's side.

"Hn. Dobe."

Both froze.

"TEME'S BAAAAACKKKKK!" Naruto yelled as he punched the sky. "YESYESYESYESYES" he continued, running around the field.

Sakura's reaction was more subdued. She simply looked up at this face and smiled. He grunted at her, looking pointedly at the half healed cut before looking away. The smile spread on her face as she went back to work, and couldn't help but notice a faint smirk on his.


	2. Protection

Deeming that the public had forgotten all about him, Sasuke was allowed by the council to find a living space that wasn't a doctor's office. One requirement though, was that he live with a Jounin or higher for safety reasons. Naruto had offered his place, but 10 minutes there established that no, that was never going to happen.

So instead he moved into Sakura's place.

He guessed it would be much like before. He would sleep on the couch and train and read all day. She also had an impressively size bookcase, stuffed full of just about everything he could imagine. It was really chaotic though, and on the first day there he organized it so he could easily identify what he wanted to read. The weird romance novels were banished to the bottom shelf.

One thing he had not factored into his new life, was the fact that she showered. And changed clothes in the bathroom. And when she was in a rush, she would leave her clothes there.

So he spend quite a bit of his time getting acquainted with Sakura's underthings, and then pointedly ignoring them. He also decided she had a suspicious amount of lacy things for a working professional.

So that is how Naruto found him one morning, picking up one of Sakura's bras off the bathroom floor with a hanger and walking it to her room like it was poisonous.

"Heeeey. What are you doing with that Temeeeee!" Naruto shouted as he spotted Sasuke, who only glared at him intensely before throwing both the hanger and the bra into the room.

"It's not going to kill you, you know. In faaaact, it might make your life very good if you tried treating it better. I mean, you are living with a very available girl right now. You could be getting down every nighttt. Oh lalaaaa!" Naruto danced around the living room.

Sasuke grunted in frustration and walked out of the apartment in the direction of the training grounds.

"Your loss. And probably someone else's gain. Sakura is veeeery hot you know?" Naruto continued, but a glare from Sasuke made him shut up with a huge grin on his face. Oooh yeah. He was so good at this.

Sasuke had honestly not considered her in that sense. He had been much too focused on isolating himself from everyone, the words from his interrogation ringing through his head every day. Lately though, he was starting to forget them. Sakura didn't seem to despise his presence like they had promised him, and Naruto's promise of a happy return seemed a lot less like complete lies.

The nightmare that was his return was starting to fade.

And when he considered it, empirically of course, Sakura was very attractive. She had filled out nicely and it was a lot easier to tell when she wasn't constantly wearing scrubs. She had also stopped being annoying, though Naruto was still exactly as irritating as he had always been.

He almost beat Naruto today in training, and when Sakura came to heal him during lunch he secretly wished he had more injuries so she would stay close to him longer. He also smirked when she kicked Naruto in the head for insulting her cooking.

That night, when he cleaned the dishes in her tiny apartment, she brushed past him to put a glass in the sink. It had probably happened before, but this time he was acutely aware of where and how long their maintained contact.

He also noticed she was shorter than he remembered. In the hospital, she had been an embodiment of strength and healing. She had always come to him on the windowsill, standing taller. Now that he stood too, she smaller, more delicate.

That sent a confusing mix of emotions through him, and he decided it was best to just ignore it.

Sakura on the other hand, was excited every time Sasuke did anything new. When he offered to do the dishes three days ago, she had beamed at him like a lunatic. Yesterday he had done the laundry and she had come home to fresh new sheets. She had snuggled into them happily, mentally patting Sasuke on the back.

She also noticed his muscle tone was coming back, and that excited her in different ways.

Ways that were not proper to discuss in her medical report.

Sasuke was still struggling with controlling his chakra, and frequently burned his hands while training. So today, Sakura, was sitting in front of him as she slowly dragged chakra-cooled fingers down his forearm. It was causing a tingling sensation in him that wasn't unfamiliar, but he wasn't quite ok with.

Wanting to stop her, he grabbed her fingers with his opposite hand. Instead of stopping the feeling, his brusque movement made a larger charge course through his arm and he let out an undignified groan as his entire body shivered.

Sakura stared at him with wide eyes, frozen in place. Her chakra had abruptly cut off, and when he opened his eyes, his cheeks were tinted slightly pink.

Naruto decided that this was the right time to add his two cents.

"And whaaaat are you two children up to now?" he said, mocking Kakashi's tone.

Sasuke immediately let go of her hand and got up as quickly as possible, while Sakura still sat there shocked.

"Well, training's over now. I guess I can go annoy Tsunade-baa." He said as he wander off in turn.

That night, dinner was tense. Neither was willing to look the other in the eye, and moving about the small apartment was jerky and overly cautious. The next morning, Sakura hesitated before starting to head a cut on Sasuke's shoulder.

"Just do it already and get this awkward sexual tension over with." Whined Naruto from the ground a couple feet away.

Sakura glared at him before placing her hands on his shoulder, but she didn't miss the small shudder that went through Sasuke upon contact.

By the time the monthly 'girls' night' came around, nothing had been resolved. If anything, the tension had only gotten worse.

"Ok, spill. You look like you forgot to wear underwear today." Ino said gracefully, sipping her drink.

"Ugh, now I have that to worry about forever. Thanks." Sakura said, as Tenten wrinkled her nose at the idea. "It's just Sasuke. He's doing so well, I don't want to ruin it."

"Ruin how?" Hinata said softly.

"Why does he have to be so pretty and so broken." She mumbled into her cup.

"Ohhh. The good kind of ruining. Trust me, that won't hurt him at alllllll. For example, with Shika-"

"No. I work with him regularly. I have no intention of ever knowing what you two do behind closed doors." Tenten interjected.

"And in training field. And his back yard. And on missions." Ino said smugly.

"Ew no. That is gross and I now hate you forever."

"Also how do you approach that subject? I can't just say 'hey, wanna bone?"

"Yes, you totally can. And I guarantee you that would work." Ino nodded vigorously.

"You're no help at all. And the rest of you aren't any better at relationships. Why are we so lame."

"A). I'm not lame. B). It's because we are bad bitches, getting money." Ino said, downing the rest of her glass.

"What does that even mean?" Inquired Tenten, always confused about the latest slang.

"I'm just gonna get drunk. Works for Tsunade when she has problems." Said Sakura, indicating to the waiter she wanted another round.

"Works for me" said Ino as she happily accepted her new drink.

Later that night, Sakura was unceremoniously dumped on her front step by Tenten, who was tired of carrying her. She rang the doorbell, and said "I brought you a present." When Sasuke opened the door, pointing at Sakura collapsed on the welcome mat.

Picking her up, he dragged her inside and went to get her a glass of water.

When he came back, she was sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch. "You're beautiful, you know that right?" She asked him, staring intently like only a drunk person could.

He frowned at her and gave her the glass of water.

"Like, I don't think you understand. You are suuuuuper duppper pretty. And your muscles are like; BAM. Hotness." She nodded to herself, spilling water on her shirt.

"Oops, hehe." She mumbled before deciding to remove her shirt.

Sasuke decided it was definitely time to leave the room. Possibly forever.

When Sakura had a late shift at the hospital, Sasuke would sometimes come and wait for her before going home. She had seen him in the nurses breakroom earlier, and knew to go there when she was done with her work.

"He's a murderer! Who knows how many Konohans he has killed during his service to Orochimaru. He even is known to have killed his own brother. That speaks to a deeply twisted mind, and as a mother I do not want him anywhere near our city, much less our schools!" A smartly dress woman exclaimed, her face deeply concerned.

Sakura didn't want to watch this. Anchors rehashing the most gruesome and violent depcitions of him again and again to garner views. It had been months since people thought of him like that, but the end of the year brought all kinds of 'top ten news stories' and 'recap of the year' type programs.

Disgusted with the public at large for feeding into these shows, she turned to Sasuke, ready to tell him that they could go home but something stopped her. He was still staring, mouthing words. Her hand came up to cover mouth as she realized that he was mouthing the words from the tv. Verbatim.

"Sasuke…" She said softly, hesitantly reaching out to him. But he didn't pay attention, he was still staring. Still repeating.

"Sasuke!" she yelled, and that finally snapped him out. He looked startled and more than a little bit afraid. Seeing the fear in his eyes when he turned to her made something inside her snap, and she tugged him into an unwilling hug as tears came from her eyes.

"They made you watch, didn't they?" She said as she cried quietly into his shoulder. He didn't need to respond. The fact that he hadn't pushed her away said enough.

That night they ate in silence, solemnly staring at their plates. When he went to clean the dishes, his movements were mechanical, more like a machine than a man. Looking at him, she could see months of progress gone. A simple 30 second clip of some uninformed idiot had shut him down entirely.

This wasn't the Sasuke she knew from her childhood. She knew that he had arrived in her office changed. He wasn't strong or independent. Still stubborn, but never fighting back. Something drastic had changed in him, and she was determined to figure out what.

So the next morning, she banged on the door to Tsunade's office and demanded a meeting.

"I want you to declassify Sasuke's interrogation tapes." She announced, making Tsunade look up in shock.

"Are you sure you want to see that?" She asked, looking serious.

Sakura hesitated. Did she really want to see what he had gone through? Seeing him now was enough to scare her. But no, she wanted to help him. And you can't prescribe treatment if you don't know what the diagnosis is. "Yes." She said with conviction.

"I'll see what I can do."

Later that afternoon Sakura was called back to the Hokage tower and led to a small conference room.

"I can't declassify them, but I can allow you to watch the tapes in this room only, and they need to be back in custody by closing time. Interrogation is not under my jurisdiction, so this is the best I could get from the council." Tsunade said, unlocking the door.

Inside the room were several filing boxes dumped on the central table. Each box was filled with dozens of tapes, labeled with dates and numbers. Deciding chronological order was probably the most reasonable, she popped the first tape in.

She only watched 2 or 3 minutes each for the first dozen tapes. It was surreal to see Sasuke's usual aloof smugness. He had attitude and strength exuding from every move he made, but he didn't hesitate to answer their question. He told them where all of Orochimaru's bases were, locations of hideouts he had met Akatsuki in. He detailed the strengths and weaknesses of any and all ninjas he had encountered.

Naruto joined her ten minutes in, explaining that he had seen her request on Tsunade's desk.

Around tape 15 things took a darker turn. They stopped asking him questions, and instead started insulting him. Sasuke was compliant, barely. He didn't respond verbally to the jibes, but he glared and grunted when appropriate. Large segments of the tapes now involved watching the news, with his interrogators stressing the anger and hatred people held for him.

"I remember that segment. I was interviewed and I know they aired it. Why isn't it on his monitor?" Naruto said, frustrated by the barrage of hate speak coming from the tv.

Tape 17 was more personal.

"Did you really think that Naruto still care about you? You really thought his promised return would go off flawlessly? You can't have been that naïve, that STUPID. You're a wanted criminal. He is a ninja of Konoha, tasked with getting you to return under any circumstances. You really think anyone wouldn't lie to you after all that you did?"

"No! I would never!" gasped Naruto as they saw Sasuke turn away from the man yelling at him.

On tape 20, they showed him the media coverage of his trial, carefully edited so that only the angriest, most vicious segments were shown on a loop.

"See? No one wants you. You should have stayed out of the village. They hate you. You're only allowed to live for your genes. You wanted to maintain the Uchiha line, well that might just be the only thing you'll ever be thanked for."

Sakura by this point was curled into a ball on a chair, chewing on a knuckle. She had known that this wasn't going to be pleasant, but this wasn't interrogation. This was just intimidation and was completely unnecessary since he had been cooperating the entire time.

Naruto was no better. He sat there, head in his hands. This was not what being a hokage was. This was not what he signed up for. He wanted to help people. Not… this.

Mechanically Sakura got up from her chair and switched out the tapes.

"OK Uchiha. Sit up straight! You're about to finally accomplish your dreams!" Said a masked man, walking into the room with two other people. Sasuke was sitting in his chair, calmly looking at them. Instead of stopping on the other side of the table, like they always had, the interrogators came up next to him.

"Stand up please" A feminine voice came from tape. Cautiously, Sasuke obeyed. The smallest of the masked figures then bent down in front of him, and tried to pull his issued pants down.

Sasuke fought back. He bolted backwards, knocking his chair over. The two others in the room grabbed his arms and held him against the wall.

"I thought you wanted to continue your clan, Uchiha. You should be more careful with your words if you don't know what you want." Mocked one of the men, as the presumably female member pushed his pants down.

"Ooh, not bad. I thought you were cute when you were young, but damn. This is going to be more fun than I had expected." The girl said, caressing his crotch. Sasuke tried to move away from her, desperately pulling his arms from the two men's grasp.

"Nuh-huh, Uchiha. The council wants all your dreams to come true. So just enjoy it or shut up." Tutted one of the interrogators before the girl got to work.

Naruto sat, completely frozen in shock, unable to process what what happening.

Sakura had her head in her folded knees, trying to keep back the bile in her throat while her hands pressed on her ears trying to drown out the sounds of Sasuke fighting back.

"No… no... no." she repeared, nearly in time with the video.

Meanwhile on the video, they had finished what they wanted. Scraping off the semen into a cup, they walked out of the room laughing. Sasuke was left slumped in a pile on the floor and the tape ran to black.

They sat in silence for several minutes, the only sound Sakura's attempts to control her hyperventilating and the white noise from the speakers.

The only moved when Tsunade walked in. "You almost done, the drop off desk closes in 5 minutes." She said, poking her head in the room. At the same time, Sakura ran for the trash to throw up.

"No more." Said Naruto, removing the tape while making as little contact as possible with it.

Tsunade's eyes softened. "I'll tell them to come pick it up. Sakura, go to my office to lay down."

When Tsunade came back to her office she sat next the shaking, curled ball of her apprentice on the couch. She put a hand on her shoulder, in what she hoped was a comforting way.

"I hoped you wouldn't make it that far through them." She whispered. She knew Sakura didn't have the stomach for torture.

"Why?" Sakura whispered, burrowing into the couch.

"I don't pretend to understand the council. I disagree with the majority of what they do. When I learned about what they had ordered…. I couldn't let that slide. Immediately I shut down their investigation. But the damage had been done. He didn't respond to anyone or anything. He just sat there in his cell all day staring at the tv. I didn't know what to do." She said as she caressed her apprentice's hair.

"I honestly thought he would never get better. Especially after he left himself get nearly killed the first night out. They had well and truly broken him." She stopped. "But you. You're a miracle worker. Naruto tells me he talks sometimes now. And that was all you, so you can't give up now."

They sat together while Sakura's tears calmed down. Eventually she got up, still shaken and distraught, but something else gleamed in her eyes.

"I'll be going home now." She said with certainty.

Sasuke was confused. Sakura had cried on him yesterday, and he hadn't seen her all day today. He wasn't concerned though. That would be ridiculous.

Right?

And when she walked in the door, tear tracks down her cheeks, he didn't know what to think. She looked so small, somehow broken. She looked at him meekly and when he frowned in confusion at her behavior he saw the tears come back.

This was wrong. She was strong. She didn't cry. Especially not this much. Even when she was young, she had barely cried.

She hiccuped through her tears, and he decided he needed to make her stop. Somehow.

This was too wrong to continue.

Yesterday she had quieted when she hugged him. He could do that again, right? It should work.

Decided, he walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her. She stopped breathing and her eyes snapped to his. Tears poured out of her eyes with renewed vigor.

Crap, this was not the plan. This was in fact the opposite of the plan.

Before he could abort, she pressed her head against his shoulder and her arms wrapped around his torso and squeezed.

That was good, right?

They stood there for a while, his head coming to rest on top of hers after a few moments. When she stopped sniffling, he heard a whispered "thank you" as she reached one hand to wipe off the last few tears.

Lifting her head, she looked at him. "That night you were released… did you intend to die?" She asked carefully. He looked at her for a moment, his turn to be startled. This is what she was crying about?

She care enough about him to cry?


End file.
